Cake Eater
BY allyson dahlinHARPER teen2022Query Letter
She has a million followers on social media.
She uses her fashion-forward eye to pick the perfect angle and filter on every photo.
She’s iconic.
She’s a trend-setter.
She’s Marie Antoinette, the year is 2176, and she’s arrived in the Franc Kingdom to marry the prince, secure an alliance, and rake in likes from her fans.
Versailles is not the perfect palace Marie’s seen on The Apps. Her life is a maze of pointless rules, and the court watches her every move for mistakes. Her shy husband Louis is more interested in horses and computer-hacking than producing heirs. Versailles seems like a dream full of neon-lit statues, handsome android soldiers, and parties till dawn. Under the surface, it’s a creepy den of secrets: surveillance in Marie’s bedroom, censored news feeds, disappearing courtiers.
When Marie and Louis become king and queen long before they’re ready to rule, any efforts to aid their suffering subjects are stamped out by the mega-corporations of the First Estate. Between riots in Paris and image-wrecking social media firestorms, Marie can’t afford to lose her head. Using her social media savvy and Louis’ hacking knowledge, they try to fix their reputations and change their kingdom for the better, but the royals may find it’s already too late. They’re ruling over the end of an era.
CAKE EATER is a young adult novel complete at 86,000 words. It’s a cyberpunk re-imagining of the rise and fall of Marie Antoinette with similarities in theme to the show Black Mirror. CAKE EATER would appeal to fans of twists on history, like The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin and My Lady Jane by Kristin Hand.
Thank you for your consideration.
About
Age Range
Young Adult
Genre
Science Fiction
Word Count
100,000
Book Link
https://www.harpercollins.com/products/cake-eater-allyson-dahlin
Agent
Merrilee Heifetz
Query Stats
Number of Queries Sent
60
Number of Full Requests Received
~12
Number of Offers of Representation
3
Number of Months Spent Querying This Novel
5 months
Years Spent Writing Before Getting an Offer
8
Number of Manuscripts Queried Before This One
2
Publication Status of The Book Queried
Published (Big 5)
Years Spent Writing Before This Book was Published
10
Note to Querying Writers:
It might be worth noting I took part in Twitter pitch contests and received about 20 requests that way, but none of those led to my agent!